By Priam Nepomuceno | Philippine News Agency
The Tanay-headquartered 2nd Infantry Division (2ID) of the Philippine Army on Thursday (April 10) announced that its troops had seized a large New People’s Army (NPA) arms cache in Labo town, Camarines Norte late Wednesday (April 9).
In a media statement on Thursday, 2ID spokesperson Lt. Col. Jeffrex Molina said soldiers from the 16th Infantry Battalion under the 201st Infantry Brigade managed to seize the NPA arms cache in Barangay Exciba with the help of a former rebel.
“The discovered cache contains one Ultimax light machine gun, one M-653 rifle, one M-14 rifle, seven M-16 A1 rifles, 14 magazines, 16 hand grenades, two rolls of detonating cord, 4,211 rounds of 5.56mm live ammunition and 715 rounds of 7.62mm live ammunition,” Molina said, emphasizing that the local police also helped with the operation.
Meanwhile, 2ID Commander Maj. Gen. Cerilo Balaoro Jr. said the seizure shows that the cooperation between government forces, former rebels and the local community is working very well.
“The continued recoveries of the terrorists’ war items are steadily weakening the operational capability of the terrorist NPA in Southern Luzon,” he added.
It can be recalled that dozens of NPA war materiel were recovered in the same barangay last Jan. 9 and in Barangays Baay on Feb. 13 and Malatap on March 9. (PNA)
